A discussion on unifying the time of the adhan.

The Shaykh : This is correct, and there is no fault in this statement. But does this mean that one country fasts and prays according to a single adhan, especially if that country is like our country? It is now clear that the issue, in its utmost precision, lies in the variations present in a place like our country. Does your statement, which we accept, imply that it is prescribed to unify the adhan to cover all these areas despite the differences between them? I think the answer would be no, is that not so?

The questioner : I am not in favor of unifying the adhan, but I am in favor of unifying the time. This happens in Kuwait...

The Shaykh : Please, let the answer be specific. I say you will agree with us that it is not so. Is that not right?

The questioner : I may disagree on this...

The Shaykh : Well, you may disagree or you may not, but we want to know so that we can agree. As soon as I agreed with you, I said this statement is accepted. But just as I agreed with you, I want you to agree with me that it is not valid to administer the rulings of prayer, fasting, and breaking the fast in this country with a single adhan. Because you said in your statement, which we accepted as correct and without dispute, that the mu'adhdhin may differ from one mu'adhdhin to another. This is very natural, and I know it by experience. A person called me one day when some people thought it was the morning of the twenty-seventh, which was the Night of Decree. The person called me and asked: "Have you seen the sun?" I said: "The sun has not yet risen for me." He said: "Strange, I saw it, and I saw it as it came in the hadith, like a flat surface with no rays." What is the difference between the place where I am and the place where the person is speaking from? The distance between us is perhaps one or two kilometers, extending from my location to the north. The reason is very clear. The mountain may be like this, for example. So when the sun rises here, it is delayed in rising here. The person in this direction sees the sun before the person in this direction sees it. This is very natural. So at the time when we strive for unification, we should not strive to nullify the rulings of the Shari'ah. Is unifying the adhan not a nullification of one of the symbols of Islam? Or is the earth not inhabited, O Abu Sulayman?

The questioner : On the level of Amman, I say this is not correct. This unification is not correct.

The Shaykh : So, so what should be done? Should there be a mosque in every neighborhood, in every district? Is that right?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Fine, this does not exist now. The Muslims are now tied to this unifying, non-Shari'ah adhan. Let us say it plainly. So we tie the fate of our prayer and fasting to this adhan, because your observation is in its proper place? No, this does not necessarily imply that at all. I will say now: if there is a mosque in every neighborhood, and in every mosque there is a mu'adhdhin, a Shari'ah mu'adhdhin, not a waqf mu'adhdhin who calls based on the clock, but a Shari'ah mu'adhdhin who strictly observes the Shari'ah times, then I will go along with you. It is not obligatory for every individual to observe the crescent moon, observe the sun, observe the Dhuhr, the zenith, and before the zenith. It is not obligatory for them to do this. But I will say finally: suppose things returned to how they were before, where every mosque has its own mu'adhdhin. But if a person hears the Maghrib adhan and sees the sun setting, does he break his fast?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : So what? Are those who refrain from responding to the Maghrib adhan on the grounds that they insist they saw the sun set after it, are they excused? And the reverse as well. I want to say that those who see the sun has set and break their fast, and let us say they do so in front of some people, are they also excused? Why? Because this issue, as I mentioned earlier, is not like seeing the crescent moon. In that case, everyone present can participate: "Come, let us look," and this has happened with us. People, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) says: Did you see the sun set or not? Yes, and the professor was present in Zarqa when we were... what was his name... Abu what?
Abu Layla : Abu Haytham.

The Shaykh : Abu Haytham. We saw the sun set, and he was holding a date in his hand, not breaking his fast until he heard what? The adhan. Well, where did this confidence in this adhan come from, even though he saw the Shari'ah sign that the Messenger of Allah established for every Muslim, with no difference between the educated and the uneducated? "I saw the sun set from here, and the night approached from here," and so on. Why? This is blind trust in the one who calculated these astronomical figures, which completely contradict our reality. I saw, O Abu Sulayman, two completely contradictory scenes in one village that confirm your statement. Let us go to al-Na'ur, a well-known village, I think on the road to Jerusalem, about three years ago or so. The house of Mansur, which you know.

The questioner : Yes, yes.

The Shaykh : We were sitting like this on a terrace, and we saw the sun setting for the first time in my country. I heard the unified adhan with the setting of the sun, while at my home, the sun sets, and after eight or ten minutes, I hear this unified adhan. This is a very clear paradox between my home in East Amman and al-Na'ur, which is roughly to the southwest, is that not so?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : But what do you think about a second or third Ramadan, I don't know, when I was also invited to al-Na'ur, and we were entering the mosque, and the adhan was raised from the loudspeaker, a unified adhan, and I see the sun with my own eyes. If there were a Shari'ah mu'adhdhin now, would he call the adhan?

The questioner: No.

The Shaykh : He would not call the adhan. So, may Allah bless you, we must first be bold in explaining the Shari'ah rulings to the people so that they may be as Allah the Exalted said: And secondly, the disagreement we have been discussing, which Islam warns against as much as possible here, such as debating that this is a sunnah and that is a bid'ah. In the name of not stirring up division and disagreement, you remain silent, and the bid'ah passes, and the sunnah is not spread. This means the bid'ahs will increase and the sunnahs will die. But our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, says: If we see the sun setting with our own eyes, and we tell them, "People, there is no disagreement among all Muslims that when the sun sets, the Maghrib prayer becomes permissible and breaking the fast is allowed, and here you see the sun," they say, "No, the time has not come yet!" What defined it for you? We did not hear the adhan, my brother. This adhan is astronomical, it is not a Shari'ah adhan, as evidenced by the fact that they, I think, put differences at the end of every month. But I wonder who applies these differences if all the mosque mu'adhdhins are employees and all of them... do not observe these differences. They tell you, "This is the unified adhan, and the matter is done."

The questioner : And if the sun is visible, there is no problem; the ruling is clear and evident, and there is standing evidence for it. But if the sun is hidden, the difference is not in the unified adhan, like in Riyadh, in the Grand Mosque in Riyadh, where everyone waits for the mosques to call, and the Grand Mosque calls, and the voices of the mu'adhdhins start immediately, and its voice used to reach because Riyadh is flat, meaning up to about sixty kilometers, the voice used to reach all parts of Riyadh. And if the sun is visible, there is no problem; the ruling is clear and evident, and there is standing evidence for it. But if the sun is hidden, the difference is not in the unified adhan, like in Riyadh, where the Grand Mosque is in the center of Riyadh, and everyone waits for the mosques to call, and the Grand Mosque calls, and the voices start immediately, and its voice used to reach, Riyadh is flat, meaning up to about sixty kilometers, the voice used to reach all parts of Riyadh.

The Shaykh : And we hear the voice of Makkah, O professor.

The questioner : I am speaking about the reality that exists.

The Shaykh : I know, may Allah reward you, but does the Shari'ah approve of this reality? I mean, this sound that reaches fifty kilometers away; do we take it into account? Is it obligatory for the one who hears this sound? He said: So answer, of course, we return to the same topic: what is the proof for establishing the month by astronomical calculations? He said: "Yes." He said: So, if a person hears the call to prayer via a loudspeaker at a distance of fifty kilometers, is it obligatory for him? Of course, you will agree with me that it is not. So we want to link all the topics to the ruling of the Shari'ah in the matter. The fact that the mosque in Riyadh raises its voice with a loudspeaker so that it is heard from afar just as it is heard from near, without analogy, meaning without comparison, this does not change the issue of the matter at all. It is obligatory for every area, as came in the hadith: Do you know this hadith?

Another questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So every house, meaning every neighborhood, must have a mosque and a mu'adhdhin. If this mu'adhdhin calls to prayer and observes the rulings of the Shari'ah, then the woman in her house, the old woman, and so on, are not responsible for observing the times. This is exactly the truth, just as you speak, but we see the error with our own eyes and we follow people in their error. And their error is not forgivable because it is not based on the rulings of the Shari'ah; it is based on astronomy. How great is the difference between this and that.
The Shaykh : And Allah is the One to be sought for help, and we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to inspire us with the right.